12 Easy Dog-Friendly Hikes near Vancouver

April 25, 2026May 1, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

I hike a lot, but something I haven’t focused on much on this blog is dog friendly hiking. I have a 6 year old Australian Shepherd named Sadie. She sometimes features on my posts, but she’s always a consideration when I’m planning a hike, sometimes coming with me, sometimes staying behind. Unfortunately, she is a reactive dog, which for her, means that she is afraid of other dogs and will usually “react” if forced into close proximity with them. Her reactions mostly look like barking and pulling at her leash, unless we can successfully distract her.

We’ve spent a lot of time training her to focus on us when presented with other dogs, and if we see the dog in advance, we can usually be successful at this by stepping off the trail and giving her with treats. For this reason, we stick to on-leash trails because it’s very hard to control her reaction when off-leash dogs approach her. If you’re taking your dog to dog-friendly trails, please make sure to respect the on/off leash rules. I personally don’t fault people for letting their dogs off-leash when there’s no one around, but please don’t let your dog approach any person or dog off-leash if you are on an on-leash trail. And please don’t let your dog off-leash if they do not have good recall or you cannot get them to go back on-leash when required.

Please also make sure to pick up after your dog. Dog poo is not natural and carries lots of harmful bacteria that has been proven to lead to e.coli in waterways. We live in a very populated city and these trails all see frequent use. If people don’t clean up after their dogs, it is death by a thousand cuts and it will impact the experience. So those are my PSA to dog owners, thanks for respecting trail rules! Here’s some great trails within a few hours drive that make for an easy hike with your furry friend!

Brandywine Falls/Nairn Falls

Location: Brandywine Falls Park/Nairn Falls Park (Whistler/Pemberton)
Season: April – November
Terrain: 1.5km, flat
Leash rules: on-leash
Description: These are both flat and easy trails located off the Sea to Sky highway around Whistler and Pemberton. Great if you love waterfalls. Do not try to hike to the base of Brandywine Falls, it is not permitted.

Starvation Lake

Location: Starvation Lake Rec Site (Squamish)
Season: most of the year
Terrain: 6km, 130m elevation gain
Leash rules: recommended to keep on leash
Description: This is a nice trail to a beautiful lake, fantastic for swimming in the summer. It doesn’t get a lot of visitors and can be accessed from Paradise Valley Road or the Sea to Sky highway.

Brohm Lake

Location: Brohm Lake Forest (Squamish)
Season: most of the year
Terrain: 6km, 200m elevation gain
Leash rules: a mix of on and off leash trails
Description: This is a great trail for a forest walk in gloomy weather, or for a swim on a hot and sunny day. It is very popular in the summer and the parking lot fills up quickly. You cannot park on the road, so plan accordingly.

Jug Island/Admiralty Point

A photo of Jug Island and Indian Arm on a sunny day in Belcarra, BC.

Location: Belcarra Regional Park (Belcarra)
Season: year-round
Terrain: 5km, 150m elevation gain
Leash rules: on-leash
Description: This is a great year round hike along the ocean. Both trails leave the parking lot in opposite directions. They are similar in length, but Admiralty Point is the easier trail with scenic views along the way, while Jug Island has a beautiful beach at the end of the trail.

Woodland Walk

A photo of a forested trail in Pinecone Burke Provincial Park on a sunny day near Coquitlam, BC.

Location: Pinecone Burke Park (Coquitlam)
Season: most of the year
Terrain: 7.5km, 250m elevation gain
Leash rules: on-leash
Description: This is a lesser known park that is very close to the city. It attracts a lot of mountain bikers, who share the uphill access trail, but otherwise, you won’t encounter a lot of people. There is a shooting range nearby if your dog is bothered by loud noises. Access from the top of Harper Road.

Hunter Road

Location: Mission
Season: most of the year
Terrain: 8km, 250m elevation gain
Leash rules: on-leash
Description: This is the only trail on the list that’s not in a park. The trail follows an old logging road to a scenic viewpoint of Stave Lake and it isn’t very busy in the off-season.

Lindeman Lake

Location: Chilliwack Park (Chilliwack)
Season: year-round, spikes are needed in the winter
Terrain: 4km, 200m elevation gain
Leash rules: on-leash
Description: This is a short but steep trail to a beautiful lake and campground. It is very busy year-round and the parking lot has been targeted for theft, so plan accordingly.

Falls Lake

Location: Coquihalla Summit Rec area
Season: year-round, but snowshoes are required in the winter
Terrain: summer – 2km, 70m elevation gain; winter – 4km, 100m elevation gain
Leash rules: on-leash
Description: This is a short trail that can be completed in the winter with snowshoes. However, the access road is not plowed in the winter, making the approach twice as long.

Lightning Lakes

Location: E.C. Manning Park
Season: year-round, but snowshoes are needed in the winter
Terrain: 5-8km, flat
Leash rules: on-leash on trail, but off-leash at the dog beach
Description: This is an easily customizable trail where you can hike around one or two of the lakes. In the winter, it is usually possible to snowshoe across the lake, but return to the trail near the bridge as the river usually doesn’t freeze.

Skookumchuck Narrows

Location: Skookumchuck Narrows Park (Sunshine Coast)
Season: year-round
Terrain: 9km, 150m elevation gain
Leash rules: on-leash, especially near the rapids!
Description: This is a forested trail to the Skookumchuck Narrows, a natural phenomenon that occurs during certain tides as the water funnels in and out of the channel. Check the best timing before your visit so you can watch adventure enthusiasts playing in the rapids.

Lower/Upper Myra Falls

Little Myra Falls cascades over bare rock and into Buttle Lake on a sunny day in Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Location: Strathcona Park (Vancouver Island)
Season: April – November
Terrain: Lower – 1km, 50m elevation gain; Upper – 8km, 150m elevation gain
Leash rules: on-leash
Description: These are two separate trails with different access points, but both are located at the far end of Strathcona Park. Lower Myra Falls is the more scenic and easier trail, but the Upper Falls makes for more of a hike.

San Josef Bay

Location: Cape Scott Park (Vancouver Island)
Season: year-round
Terrain: 6km, flat
Leash rules: on-leash, highly recommended due to the presence of wolves
Description: This is the only part of Cape Scott Trail where dogs are permitted. It’s a short flat walk to the beach where you can camp or explore the sea stacks. Check the tides and visit at high tide to walk around the sea stacks to the second beach.

8 Great Hikes for Swimming

June 16, 2021June 7, 2021 / Maria / Leave a comment

I love to swim! I’ll hike any trail, but I find hikes with somewhere to swim to be some of the most rewarding trails, especially on a hot summer’s day! A lot of the lakes in BC are fed by glaciers or snow-melt, which makes for a really cold swim, but over the years I’ve become a big fan of those quick, cold dips and will swim in almost any lake from May to October. That said, I’ve tried to focus my list on some of the warmer swimming spots, but we do live in Canada, so to be honest, they’re still all quite cold.

Just a few things to remember before you swim in any body of water. Practice Leave No Trace principles, which means don’t swim in lakes that are also used for drinking water and don’t alter the site in any way or move rocks to create pools. Remove sunscreen, fly spray, moisturizer, etc, before entering the water.

Without further ado, here’s some of my favourite swimming hikes!

Brohm Lake

Brohm Lake is an awesome place to visit in the summer because there’s access to a ton of hiking trails and you can opt to go around the lake, up to the Tantalus viewpoint, or hike through the interpretive forest, finishing each hike with a dip in the lake. The only downside to this hike is that the lake is located right next to the highway and is popular for picnicking – so if you want to make sure you get parking on a hot day, arrive early!

Buntzen Lake

Located in Anmore, Buntzen lake is a popular attraction for hikers, boaters, and picnickers. This is another location you need to get to early, but it’s a much bigger lake, so there’s more room to spread out. My preference is to hike down to the far side of the lake where there’s a smaller picnic area and wharf with a lot less people. You can either take the lakeview trail, which has minimal elevation, or the Diez Vistas trail, which climbs up over the lake and has beautiful views of Indian Arm. This is definitely a colder lake, but refreshing after a day of hiking!

Deeks Lake and Brunswick Lake

Both lakes are located on the north end of the Howe Sound Crest Trail and are best done as an overnight trip. You can do them in a single day, but it does make for a lot of walking. Deeks is the first lake and a great place to swim, but if you’re willing to walk a few kilometres farther, Brunswick Lake is really the shining gem of the trail. Both are cold, but when the sun hits the water on Brunswick Lake, it turns the most brilliant shade of blue and looks like a tropical paradise!

Elfin Lakes

I feel like most people don’t think about Elfin Lakes for swimming because they’re so small and completely fed by snow melt, but the last time I visited in the summer was a scorching day and I couldn’t get enough of lazing around in the water. Of the two lakes, swimming is only permitted in one – the other is solely for drinking water and swimming is not allowed. I recommend later in the season for this hike because the lake will heat up a lot by the end of the summer.

Alice Lake

When I think of Alice Lake, I tend to think of it more as a frontcountry campground rather than a good place for hiking, but if you’re looking for a shorter hike that can end in a swim, this is a great one! It’s only a few kilometers to walk around the lake, but if you’re looking for something longer you can also extend it to do the four lakes trail loop. Similar to Brohm and Buntzen, get here early to secure a parking spot as you will be sharing the lake with picnickers.

Lightning Lakes

This is another one that might surprise a few people because Lightning Lakes isn’t one of the warmest lakes, but on a nice day, I really love this lake. Definitely make sure it’s going to be sunny before driving out to Manning Park because it can be really cold and windy on an overcast day, but this is a great place for boating, swimming, and hiking on a hot day. Hike around 1st lake or 2nd lake (or both) and then finish with a dip in the water!

Cheakamus Lake

I’ve only swam in Cheakamus Lake in May, so it was quite cold, but I imagine it probably warms up later in the summer. I decided to include it because it’s a great lake for either day hikes or overnight trips. There are two campsites, one at the foot of the lake and another halfway up, and both have beaches from which you can swim. It’s a big body of water, so it’s always going to be cold, but a great place to hang out and dip in and out of the water.

Lindeman Lake

Lindeman Lake is another one I’ve only swam in May, but I really love this lake. It’s a short, but steep, hike in Chilliwack Provincial Park and you can swim at both the foot and head of the lake. It’s tempting to swim right when you arrive at the lake, but I prefer to hike up to the back of the lake and jump of the rocks into the water from there. It’s definitely another cold one, but has the most gorgeous views!

Lightning Lakes Snow Camp

March 10, 2021February 21, 2021 / Maria / 4 Comments

I know I said I was done with writing about Manning Park, but in addition to doing day snowshoe trips in the park, I have also snow camped there, so I want to share about that adventure too!

It’s been a challenging year for everyone with COVID-19 and our limited ability to travel and see friends. Fortunately the outdoors is a relatively safe space to spend time with friends, so we decided to go on our annual snow camping adventure. We made some notable changes – we all drove separately, prepared our own meals, and brought multiple tents. It wasn’t ideal because Brandon is the only one who owns a winter tent, but Carolyn decided to make do with her 3-season tent and we convinced Steve to join us this year! Steve did avalanche safety training with us this year, so he was interested in expanding his horizons.

Originally we wanted to do Zoa Peak, but the avalanche risk was particularly high the weekend we went, so we decided to do Lightning Lakes instead since there is very little avalanche terrain there. To be on the safe side, we still rented avalanche gear and practiced finding each other’s beacons to get more familiar and comfortable with the gear.

I won’t spend too much time on trail details as I just wrote a separate post about the Lightning Lakes trail. It was possible to hike on the lake, so we crossed once on the first lake and then followed the trail along the edge of the second lake to the back. I’ve never gone beyond the edge of the second lake, but it’s not too far to snowshoe to the next lake, which is Flash Lake, so we decided to check it out. We weren’t keen on camping on Lightning Lake since there’s a lot of foot traffic and we thought Flash Lake might be more secluded.

We didn’t see anyone along the Flash Lake trail, but the creek between the two lakes was not frozen and the head of the lake looked very sketchy. If we’d continued further, it likely would have improved, but we decided to turn around and instead found a nice clearing in the woods between the two lakes to set up camp.

Surprisingly there wasn’t actually a huge base of snow at Manning this year, so we didn’t have to dig too deep. In other years we’ve shared shovels, which made digging a bit slower, but this year we each had our own shovel, so even though we had multiple tents to dig out holes for, it ended up being a bit quicker than normal (or maybe we’re just getting better at it?). We dug deeper for Carolyn’s tent since it’s not a winter tent and we made sure to pack in a lot of snow around the edges for extra insulation. Fortunately it was only about -7 degrees overnight and with two people in the tent, they didn’t have any trouble staying warm.

We all upgraded some of our gear this year, so Steve inherited some of Carolyn’s old snow camping gear and I got to test out my new -30 degree rated sleeping bag. It took me a bit longer than I anticipated to warm up in the bag (you’re only as warm as the heat you bring in with you), but after about an hour I finally got toasty and after that, quite warm. I ended up having to unzip a little bit and slept most of the night with one arm out of the bag, so I’m optimistic it will hold up in colder temperatures. There are very limited options for winter camping sleeping bags and even fewer are available in Canada. I still think some of the features of my bag could be improved, but I do think it was the best option available to me as a side sleeper.

Like any snow camping trip, by the time you get to your destination, dig out your tents and make your snow kitchen, it’s more or less time to start getting ready for dinner before you lose daylight. We spent some time boiling water and enjoyed hanging out while we cooked our meals. I made the snow kitchen this year and I have to say I thought it turned out quite well! I made the counter/couch out of the pile of snow Carolyn shoveled out for her tent and then shoveled out a pit for one of the stoves. It snowed gently for most of the day and evening, but the clouds did clear a little bit and we got a glimpse of the stars before bed.

It was around 7pm when we crawled into our tents. I read until around 8pm when I finally got properly warm and then hit the sack. I woke up around midnight to pee and then slept the rest of the night until 8am – definitely one of the better nights sleep I’ve gotten snow camping!

After breakfast we took down camp and then spent some time playing around with our avalanche gear before heading back out to the cars. It doesn’t take too long to hike back along the edge of the lake and we did a few photoshoots along the way. We all have a bit of an obsession with Gregory packs, so we take turns making attempts to get ourselves Gregory sponsorships – so far, no luck, but we still have fun!

So overall it was a great first snow camping trip in Manning Park. Manning is a bit intimidating because it can get really cold there overnight, but fortunately for us it was pretty comfortable when we visited. Definitely have plans to go back and try camping at some of the other winter trails!